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Star Trek: Early Voyages
| setting image = | caption =The USS Enterprise in 2254 | crew image = | caption2 =USS Enterprise bridge crew circa 2254, sans Number One, and the deceased Dermot Cusack. |}} Star Trek: Early Voyages was an original comic series written by Dan Abnett and Ian Edginton and published by Marvel Comics in 1997 and 1998. The seventeen issue series depicted the voyages of the under command of Captain Christopher Pike, as established in the Star Trek: The Original Series pilot episode "The Cage". Overview The series begins prior to "The Cage"; however after three issues-per references in "The Cage"-Pike's yeoman is killed on Rigel VII and replaced the following issue by J. Mia Colt. Colt's introductory issue, "Nor Iron Bars a Cage" is presented as an alternate point-of-view of "The Cage". The series was structured with single and multipart stories, including story arcs that recurred throughout the series, or gradually built up over several issues: A Klingon, Kaaj, was introduced in the second issue of the series as a recurring nemesis to Pike; unusual behavior in early issues by Doctor Boyce is explained in the eighth issue, "Immortal Wounds"; references to an ongoing conflict with the Tholians built to a head with the two part story " ", featuring the Tholian's shock troops, the Chakuun; and issue twelve began a four-issue story arc set in an alternate future version of 2293, where Pike had continued on to command the . Issue twelve also began a story arc picked up in issues sixteen and seventeen, however the arc was never completed as the series was abruptly canceled. The entire series was republished on The Complete Comic Book Collection DVD published by Graphic Imaging Technologies in 2008, or as a single paperback omnibus, Star Trek Omnibus, Volume 2, published by IDW Publishing in 2009. According to an interview with the Early Voyages writer Ian Edginton published in the 2009 Comics International Star Trek Special there were discussions towards writing an afterword for the IDW collection, to explain how the series might have played out; specifically the conclusion of story arc begun in "Thantos" and "Nemesis". Unfortunately "there wasn't time in the end". Characters The series built upon the characters established in "The Cage": commanding officer Captain Christopher Pike; first officer Number One; chief medical officer Doctor Phillip Boyce; science officer Spock; and navigator Jose Tyler. Pike's previous yeoman, referred to in "The Cage", is established as Dermot Cusack, and features prominently in the series until his death and replacement by J. Mia Colt, also originating from "The Cage". To flesh out the crew the series also introduces several other Enterprise personnel: Moves-With-Burning-Grace, the ship's Masai chief engineer; Nano, a Lirin communications officer; Sita Mohindas, an Indian helm officer; and Italian Nurse, Gabrielle Carlotti. The first issue of the series "Flesh of My Flesh" makes use of "The Cage"'s Nils Pitcairn as transporter chief. However he only appears in two panels of that issue out of the whole series. Pitcairn's assistant from "The Cage", Yamata also appears in a single panel. The Early Voyages Sketchbook published in the back of the fourth issue of the series also includes illustrations of chief petty officer Garrison, also established in "The Cage", but the character make no appearances in the series. Additionally there are a number of recurring characters in the series: The Enterprise s previous commander, Robert April appears in three issues; issue twelve establishes a new assistant to Chief Grace, Shane Samson, who is established as a nuisance to Grace later in the series, but not properly fleshed out before the series' cancellation. The Klingon Kaaj appears in four issues of the series, with his helm officer Virka also a significant presence. In the alternate future version of 2293 visited in the four-issue story arc in the series we also encounter alternate versions of many of the Original Series cast: James T. Kirk commands the , whose crew includes Montgomery Scott; while Spock, Hikaru Sulu, Nyota Uhura and Saavik all serve under Captain Pike on the Enterprise-A. In this timeline General also appears as a familiar opponent of Pike's. Depictions Prior to Star Trek: Discovery, the era of the 2250s was depicted in only one canon production, , and many of the specific depictions of the style and technology of that era was adopted by this series. Notably, the familiar Enterprise sets were all differently colored than the redesigned TOS versions, and the technological interfaces took on slightly different forms. Also, the uniforms were of a different design, with ribbed turtleneck collars rather than the black-collared versions used in TOS. While EV artists correctly depicted the 2250s uniform collars and set dressings, such as the adjustable telescoping intercom screens, they did miss a few points. The uniforms of "The Cage" came in three colors, which included a verdant gold for the command division, a soft teal-blue for the sciences division, and a pale beige for the operations division. In the comic, the similar-looking gold and beige both ended up being colored yellow, regardless of the division. Also, the onscreen rank insignia in "The Cage" had not been refined, and all commissioned officers wore a single sleeve stripe, with a special broken braid for chiefs and no stripes for junior personnel. In what was later admitted in the 10th issue letter column to be a conscious editorial decision, the artists used TOS rank insignia with multiple wavy-braided sleeve stripes to show the hierarchy between the regular characters. After a letter published in the sixth issue pointed out the inaccuracy, the editors commented that the insignia would be changed, except for Pike, who would wear two stripes, which was a captain's insignia worn by Captain Kirk in a similar uniform style in . Creators The series was written by Dan Abnett and Ian Edginton under the editor Bobbie Chase. The series used several artists, starting with Patrick Zircher and Greg Adams. Mike Collins replaced Zircher as penciler for issues nine to twelve, while Steve Moncuse took over from Adams as inker from issue thirteen. The final two issues of the series were penciled by Javier Pulido. The entire series was colored by Marie Javins, and lettered by Janice Chiang, who worked along side The Human Touch for the final four issues of the series. In the 2009 Comics International Star Trek Special both writers, and the artist Mike Collins, looked back on the Early Voyages series fondly, although with some regret the series never had a proper conclusion. Abnett commented that of all the Star Trek comics he had worked on Early Voyages was "the work he was proudest of". Issues Appendices Related media From its origins in "The Cage", the Pike era has been depicted in multiple formats across Star Trek media. The Early Voyages series represents the largest body of work depicting Captain Pike and his crew, but he has also appeared in several other comics, as well as prose novels and short stories. Pike has also appeared in mirror universe and alternate reality stories. The majority of works featuring Pike do not make use of his expanded crew as established in Early Voyages. One character to buck this trend is Moves-With-Burning-Grace, who has also appeared in the and the novel Burning Dreams. Several years later, Sita Mohindas would feature in the novel Child of Two Worlds, while Nano briefly appeared in the ''Star Trek: Discovery'' novel ''Drastic Measures''. Connections External links * *Star Trek: Early Voyages page at the [http://homepage.mac.com/mmtz/stcomix/ Star Trek Comics Checklist]. Category:Series Category:Comic series Early Voyages